Ministry of Justice

Government response to 2020 consultation on improving The Victims’ Code and The Revised Code Of Practice For Victims Of Crime (Victims’ Code)

Alex Chalk: This Government is committed to strengthening victims’ rights and ensuring that comprehensive support is available at the right time. One of my key priorities is that victims clearly understand and receive the rights provided by the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime (Victims’ Code). This has never been more important than it is now, when we are facing the huge challenges that Coronavirus has brought. The criminal justice system and the sector have been tested, but we have continued to respond robustly to the needs of victims. In fulfilling a commitment made in the cross-government Victims’ Strategy, I am today laying a revised Victims’ Code, as well as publishing the government response to the consultation: ‘Improving the Victims’ Code’ which closed on 28 May 2020. To ensure that there is enough time for criminal justice agencies to implement the new Code, I will tomorrow be laying a Statutory Instrument that will bring it into force on 1 April 2021. We received over 500 responses to our two consultations on the Code, which we have carefully considered. I would therefore like to place on record my sincere gratitude to those who took the time to respond and for providing their personal experience, knowledge and candour about what works well and what doesn’t. These views have informed the key changes we have made to the Code. For the first time, the Code has been structured so that victims are its primary audience. With its focus on twelve clearly defined overarching rights, we aim to ensure that victims will both understand and be aware of the level of service they can expect to receive from criminal justice agencies. Simplifying the Code is a vital step in our efforts to rebuild victims’ confidence and trust in the criminal justice system and their engagement with it, knowing that they will receive the right support at the right time. We know that victims find having to engage with different contacts frustrating, potentially exacerbating the trauma they may be experiencing. We have made the frequency and method of communication a more victim led process and have amended the Code to make it clear to service providers that they must try to minimise the number of different people victims have contact with. Where possible, they should offer a single point of contact for information. We have also included information about the ability to access support; without the need to report incidents to the police; at any time during the investigation and prosecution; if the case is stopped or at the end of the case. While the Code retains existing eligibility categories for access to enhanced support and information, we have made clearer that service providers have the discretion to offer these enhanced rights to victims who fall outside the scope of the existing categories. We have introduced an ‘opt-out’ framework for the Victim Contact Scheme, for victims of a sexual or violent offence, where the offender is sentenced to a term of imprisonment for twelve months or more. All eligible victims will now be automatically referred to scheme which gives vital updates on offenders as they serve their sentence, including their potential release from prison. We have also listened closely to victims of unrestricted mentally disordered offenders, who told us of their difficulties in trying to get information about an offender’s management and potential release from hospital. To help alleviate their trauma, they will receive a new right to be assigned a Victim Liaison Officer, rather than having to contact hospitals directly. This means these victims will be treated, in the same way that victims of restricted offenders are, ensuring consistency in the level of information and the way it is provided to them. For the first time, we have also specifically referenced the support available to victims of Foreign National Offenders and included information on the role of Coroners, as well as for families bereaved by murder or manslaughter abroad. Recognising that for many victims the impact of the crime may not be immediately apparent, we have redrafted the Code to provide agencies with more discretion on when a Victim Personal Statement (VPS) is offered, and revised information so that victims better understand the process and are fully aware of the wider implications of making a VPS. Victims will also be able to request a copy of their VPS for them to refer to in future. By the time the new Code comes into force next Spring, we will have embedded the necessary operational adjustments with criminal justice agencies, supported with victim focussed practitioner guidance, to provide clarity on roles and accountabilities. We will continue to work closely with Police and Crime Commissioners and Local Criminal Justice Partnerships to improve compliance with the Code and also produce a child friendly version of the Code to help children better understand their rights and the support available to them. As Victims Minister, I believe that the revised Victims’ Code both demonstrates our continued commitment to supporting victims of crime at a time when they may need it most as well as give them a louder, clearer voice in the criminal justice system process. The Code will also form the basis of our forthcoming consultation on a Victims’ Law.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Business Update

Alok Sharma: The Prime Minister has today set out a Ten Point Plan to drive a Green Industrial Revolution in the UK - an innovative and ambitious programme of job creation that will support levelling up, and up to 250,000 jobs across the UK. As we rebuild, we must build back better, greener, and faster. Our Ten Point Plan sets out ambitious policies and significant new public investment to allow the UK to forge ahead with eradicating its contribution to climate change by 2050. It presents a vision for the UK that is greener, more prosperous and at the forefront of industries for the future. Covering clean energy, buildings, transport, nature and innovative technologies, the plan will mobilise £12 billion of government investment to create and support up to 250,000 highly-skilled green jobs in the UK, and unlock three times as much private sector investment by 2030. In doing so, we will position the UK to take advantage of export opportunities in new, global emerging markets in low carbon technologies and services, providing jobs and reinvigorating our industrial heartlands, including in the North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, the Midlands, Scotland and Wales. The plan builds on the UK’s strengths and covers the following 10 areas:Offshore wind: Generating more power with offshore wind by 2030 than households in the UK are currently using, quadrupling how much we produce to 40GW by 2030, supporting up to 60,000 jobs. We have also committed to invest £160 million into modern, integrated portside offshore wind infrastructure, providing high quality employment in coastal regions.Hydrogen: Working with industry, aiming to generate 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 for industry, transport, power and homes. This will be supported by investment of up to £500 million for low carbon hydrogen production across the decade, with £240 million committed to 2024/5. We will also support trialling homes using hydrogen for heating and cooking, starting with a Hydrogen Neighbourhood in 2023, moving to a Hydrogen Village by 2025, with an aim for a Hydrogen Town – equivalent to tens of thousands of homes – before the end of the decade.Nuclear: Advancing nuclear as a clean energy source through large scale nuclear and developing the next generation of small and advanced reactors. We have committed £525 million to help develop large and smaller-scale nuclear plants, and research and develop new advanced modular reactors, all of which could support 10,000 jobs.Electric vehicles: Backing our world-leading car manufacturing bases including in the West Midlands, the North East and Wales to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, and transforming our national infrastructure to better support electric vehicles. Following extensive consultation with car manufacturers and sellers, the Government confirms that the UK will end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, ten years earlier than planned. However, we will allow the sale of hybrid cars that can drive a significant distance without emitting carbon until 2035. To support this acceleration, the Government has announced: £1.3 billion to accelerate the rollout of chargepoints for electric vehicles in homes, streets and on motorways across England; £582 million in grants for those buying zero or ultra-low emission vehicles to make them cheaper to buy and incentivise more people to make the transition; and nearly £500 million to be spent in the next four years for the development and mass-scale production of electric vehicle batteries, as part of our commitment to provide up to £1 billion, boosting international investment into our strong manufacturing bases including in the Midlands and North East.Public transport, cycling and walking: Making cycling and walking more attractive ways to travel and investing in zero-emission public transport of the future. We will start this transformation with £250m for local measures to increase cycling and walking this year, as part of our commitment to invest £2bn in cycling and walking over this Parliament.Jet Zero and greener maritime: Supporting difficult-to-decarbonise industries to become greener through research projects for zero-emission planes and ships. We will run a £15m competition to support the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuels in the UK and invest £20m into the Clean Maritime Demonstration Programme to test new fuels in shipping.Homes and public buildings: Making £1 billion available next year to make new and existing homes and public buildings more efficient, supporting 50,000 jobs by 2030, alongside a target to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028.Carbon capture: Becoming a world-leader in technology to capture and store harmful emissions away from the atmosphere, with a target to remove 10MT of carbon dioxide a year by 2030, equivalent to all emissions of the industrial Humber today. We have announced an extra £200 million of new funding to create two carbon capture clusters by the mid-2020s, with another two set to be created by 2030. The total investment of up to £1 billion will help to support 50,000 jobs, potentially in areas such as the Humber, North East, North West, Scotland and Wales.Nature: Protecting and restoring our natural environment, planting 30,000 hectares of trees every year by 2025, whilst creating and retaining thousands of jobs. This will include starting the process to designate more National Parks and Areas of Outstanding National Beauty, create more green jobs with £40 million for a second round of the Green Recovery Challenge Fund and £5.2 billion for a six year programme of flood and coastal defences.Innovation and finance: Developing the cutting-edge technologies needed to reach these new energy ambitions and make the City of London the global centre of green finance. To accelerate the commercialisation of innovative low-carbon technologies, systems and processes we will launch the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio. The portfolio will focus on ten priority areas that correspond with the Ten Point Plan.This Ten Point Plan ensures that our recovery from COVID-19 will generate jobs and bolster the economy, whilst continuing to drive down emissions. It sends a clear signal to industries across the British economy to invest in the UK’s cleaner, greener future.The Plan marks the beginning of the UK’s path to net zero, and we will continue to build on it. Over the next year we will continue to bring forward ambitious proposals across the economy to cut emissions and secure long-term growth for the whole country, with the Energy White Paper, and a Net Zero Strategy, in the run up to the international COP26 climate summit in Glasgow next year. The summit will bring together world leaders, climate experts, business leaders and citizens to agree ambitious action to tackle climate change.Ahead of the summit, this Ten Point Plan demonstrates the UK’s significant and continuing commitment to tackling greenhouse gas emissions and sets the foundation to drive a Green Industrial Revolution in the UK.